FORD TOUGH WITH AN APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION: FORD AUSTIN tells all...or at least some. by Owen Keehnen

He's a direct descendant of the famous Austin family of Texas (Stephen F. Austin is considered the Father of Texas), but this guy is living in no one's shadow. Ford Austin is a force to contend with...he's an actor, director, producer, editor, composer, and the even co-founder of Angry Baby Monkey Pictures. In addition he's also one of the most prolific actors on the current horror scene. In addition this actor-tron made 2 films for Jeff Leroy -- 'Creepies 2' and 'Psychon Invaders' with Janet Tracy Keijser. His other recent scare flicks include 'Carnies' (with Reggie Bannister and Lee Perkins), 'Dead Culture', 'Sacred Bloods', 'Evil Ever After', 'Slaughter Party' (with Tina Amantula and Lloyd Kaufman which he also produced for Troma), 'Gothic Vampires from Hell' (which he directed), 'Appetite for Destruction', 'Dead Man's Hand', 'The Curse of Lizzie Borden II: Prom Night', damn --- that's a big-ass dumpster full of gorrific credits. In addition Ford is also the brain child behind the 'Cerebral Print' film series. His additional non-genre credits include movies like 'Pearl Harbor', 'Fallen', 'Dark Blue', 'The Wright Stuff' -- as well as TV like 'Saturday Night Live', 'Another World', and 'The Andy Dick Show'. This is one busy and in demand guy but he was kind enough to take the time for this exclusive www.racksandrazors.com interview.


  Hey Ford, can you start us off with a visual and describe the room or place where you are answering these questions?

I am sitting in a room with awards all over the wall. Bigtime awards...too many to count...I have some certificates stuffed in my pillow I am sitting on....then there are many dating back to my little league baseball days. It is in a building that is less than a mile from Frank Sinatra's old house, Bing Crosby's old house, and Bob Hope's old house. I took a walk earlier and passed by Amelia Earhart's and W.C. Fields, and Andy Garcia's.

Okay, I'm curious your career was pretty eclectic until a couple years ago and then you made a whole lotta horror/sci fi movies - 'Carnies', 'Sacred Bloods', 'Creepies 2', 'Psychon Invaders', 'Deadly Culture', 'Evil Ever After', 'Slaughter Party', 'Bloody Hell', 'Gothic Vampires From Hell', 'Appetite for Destruction' ....who did you meet or what changed that made your career take off in that direction?

I met a number of crazy producers and distributors that offerred me jobs on their projects. But, you should look a little closer at the credits. I am still diversified with the work...I am just working harder and focusing a little more on horror. Anyway, back to the point. People who put me on this path include, Dave Sterling, Darrin Ramage, Ted Chalmers, Tanya York, Chris Watson, Jeff Leroy, and a few actors who were interested in doing more horror.

Which 3 of those films are you the most excited about and could you give me a synopsis that will make it irresistable to the Racks and Razors readers?

Appetite For Destruction is the first. It's about a rock band that kills it's lead singer and signs a contract without him. Soon after, his girlfriend brings him back to life and he begins killing his old traitorous bandmates one by one. We have a naked virgin upside down on a cross who gets her organs eaten by a blood covered midget in the opening scene...Very kickass ride!

Devil's Perdition is the next one. Devil's Perdition follows a zombie sheriff from Deadwood who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for his mortality. he does this by sacrificing everyone in Deadwood and pouring their blood and guts across an altar before going out and killing more. It is part of a trilogy and has many live animal sequences which involve grizzly bears, and lions. We are casting right now and shooting in May. Award Winning stuntman Randy Miller will be performing all our animal stunts.

Evil Ever After is another one from that list that is soon going to be available. It stars Randal Malone as Bernie Grisso who is turned into a cannibal by his parents and eventually raped by the chief of police...played by me...I based my performance on Bad Lieutenant...fun stuff....

Curse of Lizzie Borden II: Prom Night is also soon to come.....

Those are some wild films with great casts...I gotta ask, what is the wildest thing you have ever experienced on a horror film set?

The wildest thing I ever experienced on a film set was violently raping Randal Malone in front of a film crew. #2 was watching a guy crash a Japanese Zero jet plane on the Set of Pearl Harbor.

I also want to hear a quick plot synopsis about your 'Cerebral Print' film series.

Cerbral Print: The Secret Files is series of star filled vigniettes about aliens who are violently probing people so they can get back to their planet. It also focuses on the government agents who are trying to contain the secret of the Cerebral Print program from the public. The vigniettes are all shot from the point of view of the aliens. The movie features amazing performances from Ethan Phillips, Felissa Rose, Richard Grove, Vicky Jenson, Jed Rowen.

And what piece of Ford Austin should we put in a time capsule as your finest moment on film (to date of course)?

The Wright Stuff. It is a period comedy series that features me as wilbur wright and my codirector scott ingalls as orville wright. We use our plane to fight crime and evil and you can find it on www.channel101.com . We won Dragoncon with it last year and are still playing it. Between everyone involved we all made such an amazing piece of work that it is screening at festivals around the world...and I have yet to hear one bad review or comment from anyone.

Tell me about your production company Angry Baby Monkey Productions. How did that come about?

....I got the name from some asshole who took me to the airport and was screaming out the window at cars in Los Angeles...a classic case of California road rage...he looked like an angry baby monkey and I happened to be searching for a title at the time...it stuck...

And does Angry Baby Monkey Productions have a sort of business plan or vision?

Anything that is subversive and crazy...it is an underground micro-cinema division of another company i run called Fleaco PIX. Angry baby Monkey is the indie-edgy-micro division, Fleaco PIX is the artistic and slightly higher budgeted branch, and then we have a commercial division called FPS which is even higher and deals with corporate clients like SIEMENS.

Now if someone were to come to you and ask for advice about starting their own production company what would you tell them?

File your company through Nevada because you only have to pay $1 in taxes versus filing in California (like we did) and having to pay $860 a year in taxes.

That's a great tip! Okay, we're pulling the Ford into the Ford Austin Drive In. What three horror flicks are on the triple bill for tonight and what goodies are they going to be serving up at the concession stand?

The Exorcist, Dusk til Dawn, Dead Alive, with trailers from "Appetite 4 Destruction" and "Curse of Lizzie Borden II: Prom Night!".

What makes you go psycho in real life?

People who bitch about things....Negative assholes who bring more negative shit by being negative. People who trash Dave Sterling. Seriously, idiot people who pick on him....they know who they are....

What scares you in real life?

Driving in LA traffic I should make a horror film that takes place entirely in cars....oh wait, I am already shooting it....:)